Quadrophenia

Is it me, for a moment...

Bell boy...

Love, reign o'er me...

Can you see the real me, can you, can you?

I went back to the doctor

To get another shrink.

I sit and tell him about my weekend,

But he never betrays what he thinks.



Can you see the real me, doctor?



I went back to my mother

I said, "I'm crazy ma, help me."

She said, "I know how it feels son,

'Cause it runs in the family."



Can you see the real me, mother?



The cracks between the paving stones

Look like rivers of flowing veins.

Strange people who know me

Peeping from behind every window pane.

The girl I used to love

Lives in this yellow house.

Yesterday she passed me by,

She doesn't want to know me now.



Can you see the real me, can you?



I ended up with the preacher,

Full of lies and hate,

I seemed to scare him a little

So he showed me to the golden gate.



Can you see the real me preacher?

Can you see the real me doctor?

Can you see the real me mother?

Can you see the real me?

Why should I care

If I have to cut my hair?

I've got to move with the fashions

Or be outcast.

I know I should fight

But my old man he's really alright,

And I'm still living at home

Even though it won't last.



Zoot suit, white jacket with side vents

Five inches long.

I'm out on the street again

And I'm leaping along.

I'm dressed right for a beach fight,

But I just can't explain

Why that uncertain feeling is still

Here in my brain.



The kids at school

Have parents that seem so cool.

And though I don't want to hurt them

Mine want me their way.

I clean my room and my shoes

But my mother found a box of blues,

And there doesn't seem much hope

They'll let me stay.



Zoot suit, etc.



Why do I have to be different to them?

Just to earn the respect of a dance hall friend,

We have the same old row, again and again.

Why do I have to move with a crowd

Of kids that hardly notice I'm around,

I have to work myself to death just to fit in.



I'm coming down

Got home on the very first train from town.

My dad just left for work

He wasn't talking.

It's all a game,

'Cos inside I'm just the same,

My fried egg makes me sick

First thing in the morning.

PUNK:

You declared you would be three inches taller

You only became what we made you.

Thought you were chasing a destiny calling

You only earned what we gave you.

You fell and cried as our people were starving,

Now you know that we blame you.

You tried to walk on the trail we were carving,

Now you know that we framed you.



G.F.:

I'm the guy in the sky

Flying high Flashing eyes

No surprise I told lies

I'm the punk in the gutter

I'm the new president

But I grew and I bent

Don't you know? don't it show?

I'm the punk with the stutter.

My my my my my mmmm my my my.



GGGGG-g-g-g-g generation.



PUNK:

We tried to speak between lines of oration

You could only repeat what we told you.

Your axe belongs to a dying nation,

They don't know that we own you.

You're watching movies trying to find the feelers,

You only see what we show you.

We're the slaves of the phony leaders

Breathe the air we have blown you.



G.F.:

I'm the guy etc.



I have to be careful not to preach

I can't pretend that I can teach,

And yet I've lived your future out

By pounding stages like a clown.

And on the dance floor broken glass,

The bloody faces slowly pass,

The broken seats in empty rows,

It all belongs to me you know.



PUNK:

You declared etc.

Every year is the same

And I feel it again,

I'm a loser - no chance to win.

Leaves start falling,

Come down is calling,

Loneliness starts sinking in.



But I'm one.

I am one.

And I can see

That this is me,

And I will be,

You'll all see

I'm the one.



Where do you get

Those blue blue jeans?

Faded patched secret so tight.

Where do you get

That walk oh so lean?

Your shoes and your shirts

All just right.

But I'm one etc.



I got a Gibson

Without a case

But I can't get that even tanned look on my face.

Ill fitting clothes

I blend in the crowd,

Fingers so clumsy

Voice too loud.



But I'm one.

I am a man who looks after the pigs

Usually I get along okay.

I am man who reveals all he digs,

Should be more careful what I say.



I'm getting put down,

I'm getting pushed round,

I'm being beaten every day.

My life's fading,

But things are changing,

I'm not gonna sit and weep again.



I am man who drives a local bus

I take miners to work, but the pits all closed today.

It's easy to see that you are one of us.

Ain't it funny how we all seem to look the same?



We're getting put down etc.



My karma tells me

You've been screwed again.

If you let them do it to you

You've got yourself to blame.

It's you who feels the pain

It's you that feels ashamed.



I am a young man

I ain't done very much,

You men should remember how you used to fight.

Just like a child, I've been seeing only dreams,

I'm all mixed up but I know what's right.



I'm getting put down etc.

(Roger's theme) When a man is running from his boss

Who hold a gun that fires "cost"

And people die from being cold

Or left alone because they're old

And bombs are dropped on fighting cats

And children's dreams are run with rats

If you complain you disappear

Just like the lesbians and queers

No one can love without the grace

Of some unseen and distant face

And you get beaten up by blacks

Who though they worked still got the sack

And when your soul tells you to hide

Your very right to die denied

And in the battle on the streets

You fight computers and receipts

And when a man is trying to change

But only causes further pain

You realize that all along

Something in us going wrong...



You stop dancing.

I see a man without a problem

I see a country always starved,

I hear the music of a heartbeat,

I walk, and people turn and laugh.



Is it in my head

Is it in my head

Is in my head here at the start?

Is it in my head

Is it in my head

Is it in my head, or in my heart?



I pick up phones and hear my history.

I dream of all the calls I miss.

I try to number those who love me,

And find exactly what the trouble is.



Is it in my head etc.



I feel I'm being followed,

My head is empty

Yet every word I say turns out a sentence.

Make love to a stranger

Just asking for directions

Turn from being help to being questions.



I see a man without a problem.

You were under the impression

That when you were walking forward

You'd end up further onward

But things ain't quite that simple.



You got altered information

You were told to not take chances

You missed out on new dances

Now you're losing all your dimples.



My jacket's gonna be cut and slim and checked,

Maybe a touch of seersucker, with an open neck.

I ride a G.S. scooter with my hair cut neat,

Wear my wartime coat in the wind and sleet.



Love Reign O'er Me.

Love Reign O'er Me.

Love.



I've had enough of living

I've had enough of dying

I've had enough of smiling

I've had enough of crying

I've taken all the high roads

I've squandered and I've saved

I've had enough of childhood

I've had enough of graves...



Get a job and fight to keep it,

Strike out to reach a mountain.

Be so nice on the outside

But inside keep ambition



Don't cry because you hunt them

Hurt them first they'll love you

There's a millionaire above you

And you're under his suspicion.



I've had enough of dancehalls

I've had enough of pills

I've had enough of streetfights

I've seen my share of kills

I'm finished with the fashions

And acting like I'm tough

I'm bored with hate and passion

I've had enough of trying to love.

Why should I care, why should I care?



Girls of fifteen

Sexually knowing

The ushers are sniffing

Eau-de-cologning

The seats are seductive

Celibate sitting

Pretty girls digging

Prettier women.



Magically bored

On a quiet street corner

Free frustration

In our minds and our toes

Quiet stormwater

M-m-my generation



Uppers and downers

Either way blood flows.



Inside outside. Leave me alone.

Inside outside. Nowhere is home.

Inside outside, Where have I been?

Out of my brain on the five fifteen.



On a raft in the quarry

Slowly sinking.

On the back of a lorry

Holy hitching.

Dreadfully sorry

Apple scrumping.

Born in the war

Birthday punching.



He man drag

In the glittering ballroom

Gravely outrageous

In my high heel shoes

Tightly undone

They know what they're showing

Sadly ecstatic

That their heroes are news.



Why should I care?

Here by the sea and sand

Nothing ever goes as planned,

I just couldn't face going home

It was just a drag on my own.

They finally threw me out

My mother got drunk on stout,

My dad couldn't stand on two feet,

As he lectured about morality.

Now I guess the families complete,

With me hanging round on the street

Or here on the beach.



The girl I love

Is a perfect dresser,

Wears every fashion

Gets it to the tee.

Heavens above,

I got to match her

She knows just how

She wants her man to be

Leave it to me.



My jacket's gonna be cut slim and checked

Maybe a touch of seersucker with an open neck

I ride a G.S. scooter with my hair cut neat

I wear my wartime coat in the wind and sleet.



I see her dancing

Across the ballroom

UV light making starshine

Of her smile.

I am the face,

She has to know me,

I'm dressed up better than anyone

Within a mile.



So how come the other tickets look much better?

Without a penny to spend they dress to the letter.

How come the girls come on oh so cool

Yet when you meet 'em, every one's a fool?



Come sleep on the beach

Keep within my reach

I just want to die with you near

I'm feeling so high with you here.

I'm wet and I'm cold

But thank God I ain't old

I should have split home at fifteen

Why didn't I ever say what I mean?

There's a story that the grass is so green,

What did I see?

Where have I been?



Nothing is planned, by the sea and the sand

There are men high up there fishing,

Haven't seen quite enough of the world,

I ain't seen a sign of my heroes,

And I'm still diving down for pearls.



Let me flow into the ocean,

Let me get back to the sea.

Let me be stormy and let me be calm,

Let the tide in, and set me free.



I'm flowing under bridges,

Then flying through the sky,

I'm travelling down cold metal

Just a tear in baby's eye.



Let me flow into the ocean

Let me get back to the sea

Let me be stormy and let me be calm

Let the tide in, rush over me.



I am not the actor

This can't be the scene

But I am in the water,

As far as I can see...



I'm remembering distant memories

Recalling other names.

Rippling over canyons,

And boiling in the train.



Let me etc.

(Keith's theme) The beach is a place where a man can feel

He's the only soul in the world that's real,

Well I see a face coming through the haze,

I remember him from those crazy days.



Ain't you the guy who used to set the paces

Riding up in front of a hundred faces,

I don't suppose you would remember me,

But I used to follow you back in '63.



I've got a good job

And I'm newly born.

You should see me dressed up in my uniform.

I work in hotel, all gilt and flash.

Remember the place where the doors were smashed?



Bell Boy! I got to keep running now.

Bell Boy! Keep my lip buttoned down.

Bell Boy! Carry this baggage out.

Bell Boy! Always running at someone's heel.

You know how I feel, always running at someone's heel.



Some nights I still sleep on the beach.

Remember when stars were in reach.

Then I wander in early to work,

Spend the day licking boots for my perks.



A beach is a place where a man can feel etc.



People often change

But when I look in your eyes,

You could learn a lot from

A job like mine.

The secret to me

Isn't flown like a flag

I carry it behind

This little badge

What says...



Bell Boy!

(Including John's theme, Is It Me?) Laugh and say I'm green

I've seen things you'll never see.

Talk behind my back

But I'm off the beaten track.

I'll take on anyone

Ain't scared of a bloody nose,

Drink till I drop down

With one eye on my clothes.



What is it? I'll take it.

Who is she? I'll rape it.

Got a bet there? I'll meet it.

Getting High? You can't beat it.



Doctor Jimmy and mister Jim

When I'm pilled you don't notice him,

He only comes out when I drink my gin.



You say she's a virgin.

I'm gonna be the first in.

Her fellah's gonna kill me?

Oh fucking will he.

I'm seeing double

But don't miss me if you can.

There's gonna be trouble

When she choses her man.



What is it? etc.



Doctor Jimmy and mister Jim etc.

Is it me? For a moment

The stars are falling.

The heat is rising

The past is calling.



I'm going back soon

Home to get the baboon.

Who cut up my eye,

Messed up my Levis.

I'm feeling restless

Bring another score around

Maybe something stronger

Could really hold me down.

(Pete's theme) Only love

Can make it rain

The way the beach is kissed by the sea.

Only love

Can make it rain

Like the sweat of lovers'

Laying in the fields.



Love, Reign o'er me.

Love, Reign o'er me, rain on me.



Only love

Can bring the rain

That makes you yearn to the sky.

Only love

Can bring the rain

That falls like tears from on high.



Love Reign O'er me.



On the dry and dusty road

The nights we spend apart alone

I need to get back home to cool cool rain.

The nights are hot and black as ink

I can't sleep and I lay and I think

Oh God, I need a drink of cool cool rain.